Page 115 of Fated In Forever
“He doesn’t even know where he’s going,” I said bitterly, determined not to focus on the fact he was probably right about the whole bad big sister thing. “He’ll never be able to find her.”
Bex’s eyes slid away, her face scarlet. “Oh, he can. I’m sure he will, actually.”
I waited, then put my hands on my hips and waited some more. “Who do you think Angel’s been feeding off of since she got here?” Bex groaned, throwing her hands up. “He’ll be able to track her blood,” her blush deepened to a concerning color of burgundy. “Or at least that’s what they say.”
“Okay,” I paced across the room. “Okay, that’s good. No, wait, that’s not good. He’s going to get himself killed.”
“What are you going to do?” Bex bounced up and down on her toes, tears shining in her eyes. “She hasn’t been gone long. Less than an hour, we just had breakfast, then she came up here to change.”
My mind raced through options.
I tried contacting Malachi, but all I got was noise on the other end of the bond, which meant they were already rushing back from France. I sucked in a shaky breath, debating whether to leave right now, go it on my own. But I’d learned to rely on my friends, I just had to be patient.
Everyone would be here in minutes, then we’d be right behind Eldric.
Seriously, how much trouble could he get into in ten minutes on enemy territory?
“Heisgoing to get himself killed,” Bex said worriedly. “It’s going to be like when Lady Davenport sailed a boat around Cape Fear with a loner captain who had his heart broken by an old lover and…”
“That doesn’t sound like a smutty werewolf romance.” I muttered, rechecking the room, the still-open window, picking my sister’s book up off the floor and closing it, broken spine and all.
“I’m into historical romance these days. Dukes and ballgowns, you can’t go wrong,” she muttered, touching my arm. “You’ll find Angel, right? Bring her back? How did anyone get in here, anyway? I thought this castle was warded?”
“All very good questions, and yes, I’ll find her, Bex, I promise.”Where was everyone? I went back to the window, ran my fingers around the frame, looking for anything amiss, but I was no magical expert. But if Romulus was the one who took Angel…
Hurry, I sent another plea to Blake.You have to hurry.
“You know more about how magic works than I do. If I were able to copy someone else’s magic, I mean, mimic their powers perfectly, could I bypass a ward?” I mused.Like bypassing a security system, it would just be a matter of knowing how.
“Uncle Nash would be the one to ask, but…yeah, I think so.” Bex came to stand beside me. “If they had a rudimentary knowledge of spells, and they possessed the same magic used to ward this castle, it wouldn’t be that hard to slip through. Theoretically, anyway.”
Angel had been gone for an hour, and the clock in my head was ticking down the seconds. Eldric was right about one thing. Ididknow what Ravok did with his victims, and while he might need my sister as a bargaining chip, he certainly didn’t need the Nocturne clan’s librarian, impressive fire magic or no.
I looked at the window again, chewing on my lip. “I should go after him.”
Bex winced. “You can’t.”
“I could. But I shouldn’t. But Icould.”
Her fingers dug into my arm. “No, you can’t leave me here to tell Malachi you charged off into danger by yourself. What if he turns back into a scary monster? He might eat me.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or be vaguely concerned by how brightly Bex’s eyes lit up when she talked about him changing.
Andeatingher.
“Once a monsterfucker, always a monsterfucker.” I murmured.
Hurry, I mentally called out again to Blake, pressing my pretend pencil to my proverbial tongue.
I had a checklist now, a to-do list written in blood.
First, get my sister and Eldric back safely.
Second, kill every last person who had a hand in her kidnapping, starting with Ravok. Stab Romulus in the throat, because fuck him, and four, figure out how to not lose Malachi to the Underworld permanently, right after we saved the world like the absolute badasses we were.
54
EVANGELINE
Bex closed the window and started picking up the glass. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her she was messing with the crime scene, then realized I was thinking like a human.
